[OLPC-Asia] ReadWrite DeathWatch: One Laptop Per Child - Cormac Foster

[lite li]

http://readwrite.com/2012/10/23/readwriteweb-deathwatch-one-laptop-per-child-olpc

[image: ReadWrite DeathWatch: One Laptop Per Child]

One Laptop Per Child puts computers in the hands of the world's most
vulnerable children to help educate them out of poverty. It's a noble cause
championed by our brightest minds - but it doesn't seem to work.

The Basics

In the mid-2000s, faculty members from the MIT Media Research
Lab<http://www.media.mit.edu/research> set
out to "to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are
sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to
knowledge and modern forms of education." By 2006, the nonprofit One Laptop
Per Child <http://one.laptop.org/> (OLPC) had created
theXO<http://laptop.org/en/laptop/>,
a rugged, low-power laptop with a number of innovative features, including
ad hoc, peer-to-peer wireless networking, water-resistant keyboards and a
solid-state hard drive. By running a Linux variant (highly customized for
education) and a using unique, low-cost screen, OLPC was able to reduce the
price of the XO to $200 – just within the reach of cash-strapped
governments in developing nations.

OLPC's mission was simple: "To empower the world's poorest children through
education." To that end, it worked with education ministries around the
world, and have distributed more than 2 million XOs in 42 countries. While
Uruguay was the first participating country, the largest deployment by far
has been in Peru, involving more than 8,300 schools and 980,000 laptops.

The Problem

The XOs have been in the field now for several years, and the numbers are
starting to come in. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be working – at
least not well enough to justify the expense.

*The Economist* called the project "a disappointing return from an
investment <http://www.economist.com/node/21552202>," noting that after
Peru put $225 million of XO laptops in the field, an Inter-American
Development Bank
study<http://www.iadb.org/en/research-and-data/publication-details,3169.html?pub_id=IDB-WP-304>
found
no measurable improvement in math, reading, motivation or time spent on
homework. Specifically, the study found that "although many countries are
aggressively implementing the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, there is
a lack of empirical evidence on its effects."

OLPC has never leaned heavily on empirical evidence. According to its
website, "the best preparation for children is to develop the passion for
learning and the ability to learn how to learn." And the IDB study admits
that "some positive effects are found, however, in general cognitive
skills."

But as the Economist pointed out, any improvements just weren't worth the
cost. ROI might seem like a cold measure for an educational program, but
every dollar spent on XOs is a dollar *not* spent training teachers,
building schools or subsidizing transportation, meals and other programs
that encourage children to attend class. In the world's poorest regions
(OLPC's target market), where average spending per student is just $48 per
year <http://mashable.com/2012/04/09/one-laptop-per-child-study/> and the
cost of an XO could feed a family for months, ROI is essential.

At its heart, the problem comes from the top. In the video above, OLPC
Chairman Nicholas Negroponte lays out a radical educational vision for
disadvantaged regions that might not require teachers at all:

*"What is transformation? It's not making the classroom better. It's not
trying to do traditional educational technology. It's actually using the
kids – and I really mean the word **using** the kids – as the agents of
change."*

Doing an end-run around lousy infrastructure and poorly-trained teachers
might actually work with the right support to guide the child's learning.
Unfortunately, Negroponte has also stated that you actually can give a kid
a laptop and walk
away<http://www.good.is/posts/go-ahead-give-a-kid-a-laptop-and-walk-away/>
.

According to Jeff Patzer, a former OLPC intern, that's precisely what they
did in Peru. Hardware degraded faster than expected, and OLPC allowed Peru
to build its own branch of the system software that was incompatible with
patches. Interns were not prepared to educate teachers, and teachers were
not prepared to use the XO to teach students.

"The only thing that happens is the laptops get opened, turned on, kids and
teachers get frustrated by hardware and software bugs, don’t understand
what to do, and promptly box them up to put back in the corner." Patzer
explained<http://jeffpatzer.com/2011/01/06/part-6-who%E2%80%99s-to-blame-why-the-olpc-plan-in-peru-is-failing-and-who-is-causing-it/>
.

In an interview with the Associated
Press<http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/7217599/Why-laptops-aren-t-beating-poverty-in-Peru>,
a Ministry of Education official admitted that, "In essence, what we did
was deliver the computers without preparing the teachers…The Ministry is
not going to do another macro project of this type. It is not going to make
multimillion-dollar purchases and distribute (computers) like candy."

OLPC may be a noble organization with a valid cause, but its methods just
don't seem to be moving the needle. Like many people, I truly wanted OLPC
to work - wanted to believe that it made sense. But there's no evidence
that this kind of investment makes sense for poverty-stricken countries.
It's time to try something new.
The Prognosis

The next few years will be rough. Internet access will continue to lag in
the world's poorest areas, greatly diminishing the XO's utility, and Peru's
difficulties may cause other countries to rethink the true cost of building
and maintaining an ecosystem to support the devices.

At the same time, more powerful (if less rugged) hardware using standard
software has come down in price and will challenge the XO in wealthier
markets. Perhaps more significant, as low-cost smartphones flood the
developing world, the XO will have to justify itself as more than a media
consumption device. It's highly unlikely that we'll see many more
large-scale installations.
Can OLPC Be Saved?

To survive, OLPC needs to take a step back to consider the "why." Its
mission was based on a fuzzy notion that giving every child a laptop would
magically make things better. But if the organization can accept a more
involved role as an educational consultant (or find partners to do so), it
could conceivably still play a part in global educational reform.
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